Employability as Integral to a Warwick Education

We will …

Embed professional development and employability within the Warwick curricula

We will achieve this by …

• Putting the Employability and Skills Strategy in place
• Develop and embed at departmental and University level the building blocks of employability: disciplinary skills, employability in the curriculum, internships and placements, employer and alumni engagement
• Monitoring and taking action to improve DLHE / Graduate Outcomes at institutional and departmental level
• Establishing a common institutional language for skills and employability
• Promoting strong collaboration between academic departments, Student Opportunity and other professional service departments

 

Priorities 2018/19: Focusing on employability and skills We will continue to review our provision to support skills development and the progression of students into high quality employment of their choice. Work in 2018/19 will include: consultation and launch of a new Employability and Skills Strategy; agreement on a set of benchmarked metrics to measure progress; and the establishment of an Employability Working Group to work in partnership with academic departments and Student Opportunity. Read more about our priorities for 2018/19 ...

Employability, Skills and the Curriculum

We will …

Ensure that students and staff are able to articulate and access key skills for professional development and employability

We will achieve this by …

• Developing a minimum standard for academic departments to implement that ensures professional development and employability are integral to the students’ academic and University experience
• Encouraging and enabling departments to make explicit in academic curricula the development of disciplinary and transferable skills
• Developing a suite of Departmental, Faculty or University modules in skills development and employability to effectively support the student lifecycle
• Moving to communicate, consolidate, and co-locate central skills provision to maximise accessibility and engagement for students and complement departmental provision
• Connecting with global, national and regional trends to ensure skills providers are effectively supporting student success and preparing them for current and future job opportunities

 

Case study: SkillsForge Warwick SkillsForge was developed to be a single online platform for University stakeholders (training providers, postgraduate research students [PGRs], academic and departmental support staff) to communicate, promote and support professional development across the institution. Launched in the academic year 2017-18, Warwick SkillsForge developments continue based on engagement with the Academy into 2018-19. Read more ...

Work Experience

We will …

Maximise the availability and accessibility of all modes of work experience for every student during their studies

We will achieve this by …

• Providing students with clear information to promote the importance of work experience, including alumni stories and graduate case studies
• Creating a range of opportunities for work experience - including internships, placements, consultancy, volunteering, and part time work - available to all students regardless of their study and personal circumstances
• Providing prominent support and guidance to employers, ensuring opportunities are of graduate quality and meet student interest and study commitments
• Extending the value-added by engagement with work experience to every student though Technology Enhanced Learning supporting effective reflection
• Facilitating information-sharing and development of a University network of good practice around administration of all modes of work experience and placements

 

Case study: Synthesise Your Career – Year One Module for Chemistry Self-awareness is crucial to confident career decision making and important for employers in their decisions of who to hire. With this in mind, an optional Year One Careers Module has been designed that helps students develop ideas, get experience and connect with people who can share information on career routes. Read more ...

Employer and Alumni Relations

We will …

Offer students opportunities to meet, learn about, and develop links with diverse employers, matching the variety of graduate destinations

We will achieve this by …

• Ensuring the Warwick Curriculum is connected to and informed by industry trends and needs
• Analysing student priorities, graduate outcomes, recruitment practices and market trends, to respond to major recruiters’ demands whilst reaching out to under-represented sectors and employers in line with student preferences
• Obtaining employer feedback on our services and students’ performance in selection processes, building strong relationships and simultaneously tracking the labour market and comparator institutions to identify employer needs
• Redesigning the current financial model for Employer Engagement towards an approach which supports diversity of student opportunity
• Partnering with industry on the development of new curriculum models and modules
• Providing students with access to alumni and other professionals providing mentoring and constructive insights into current industry practices

 

Case study: Warwick wins global Chinese student employability award A team in Student Opportunity were recently awarded the Global University Careers Services Best Practice Award by China’s leading student returnee organisation, for their sector-leading employability strategy to support Warwick students and graduates into graduate roles and internships in China. Read more ...

Student Opportunity ‘Hub and Spoke’ Model

We will …

Provide support for employability and skills readily accessible and personalised for students, responsive to student needs and sector trends, visible on campus, and technologically assisted

We will achieve this by …

• Developing ‘hub and spoke’ models for the delivery of services, including a main campus hub focusing on CV and applications advice, work experience and employer relations
• Continuing to embed Student Opportunity staff within academic departments and creating delivery spaces in disciplinary location clusters
• Complementing face-to-face delivery with engaging, online content, including investment in technology and use of data and research to provide relevant, targeted support

 

Case study: Student Opportunity ‘Hub and Spoke’ Model Space to see students for appointments and small groups within departments is often a challenge; there is often no formally designated space available. As a result, careers presence in a number of departments has had a low profile. Frequent room changes, sometimes in-year, have exacerbated this. The opportunity to repurpose space in the old Porter’s Lodges in the Science concourse and ground floor of the Social Sciences building has created local space for students which is both more visible as well as easier to access and find. Read more ...

Student Enterprise ‘Hub’ and ‘Innovation Campus’

We will …

Ensure all students are able to engage in and contribute to Warwick’s entrepreneurial culture and ‘Innovation Campus’

We will achieve this by …

• Developing an Enterprise Strategy
• Providing opportunities for all students to develop their entrepreneurial mind-set and capability though in-curricula and extra-curricula activity
• Introducing infrastructure to accelerate the development of student and graduate start-ups, including physical space, staff, and consolidation of the Warwick Enterprise Eco-system
• Sustaining and building upon the University of Warwick Enterprise Partnership
• Establishing a Flagship Innovation Centre/Enterprise Hub on campus to connect students, staff and industry
• Engaging with the Industrial Strategy, Regional Strategy, and the Midlands Engine to ensure students can benefit from and contribute to this element of the University’s mission